Conveyor belts generally take the form of endless belts passing over rollers amounted on stands. Such conveyor systems are usually constructed of flexible sheet stock of generally metallic, polymeric rubber, or fabric form. For products susceptible to contact damage, such as electronic components, food items, and fibrous products, it is necessary that the conveyor belt has an even supporting surface, while at the same time the supporting surface may also be required to have a foraminous or porous quality, so as to enable air to pass transversely of the plane of the conveyor belt to enable retention of the product. The conventional endless belt conveyor assembly traditionally moves in an essentially rectilinear path, however, for many manufacturing operations, it is advantageous to have a conveyor system that turns or bends during its course of travel.
There remains a need for a conveyor apparatus that is capable of transporting a material, which exhibits little to no inherent structural integrity, along in a first direction, inverting the material, and dispatching the material to a second direction.
One particular embodiment of the present invention relates to nonwoven fabrics, whereby the product involves a manufacturing step, in which a low integrity fibrous ban is required. The fibrous matt may then be incorporated into a composite or laminate nonwoven fabric structure.
Composite or laminate nonwoven fabrics, hereinafter referred to as “compound” fabrics, are used in a variety of applications, such as cleaning wipes and backsheets for diapers. During the production of such multi-layered, compound fabrics, it is sometimes necessary to utilize multiple pieces of large, complex, and expensive equipment such as cards and film extrudes. For example, the production of multi-layered film can require more than one extruder and either a co-extrusion feedblock or multi-manifold die system or combination of the two. However, by utilizing a conveyor belt, these compound nonwoven fabric production line assets, such as a spunbond line, can be better utilized to feed multiple production lines, or to create layered or complex constructs from fewer pieces of equipment.
The conveyor apparatus of the present invention fulfills a need to manipulate the course of a fibrous batt whereby the batt is inverted without disrupting the fiber alignment of the fibrous batt. The incorporation of a conveyor apparatus into the production of a composite nonwoven fabric would cut down on the production expense due to the ability to eliminate one or more large pieces of manufacturing equipment from the production path.